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It’s all Covid-19 Cooking Now
Feeling bored, annoyed, unsettled in my pandemic-era kitchen
By Mary MacVean
It’s all Covid cooking now, and it’s getting achingly tiresome. I never imagined Covid cooking would become a way of life, that I’d still be making do without ingredients I wanted or that I’d be making dinner every single night, like my 1950s housewife mom. (Hope that’s not too painful, Husband.)
This has its upsides: More people might be learning to cook, at least I hope that’s so. We are perhaps wasting less food with a disincentive to run to the store for any old thing. I gave in and baked banana bread yesterday, when two bananas were past their prime and two others had been waiting in the freezer. It does feel that nothing is just right in my kitchen, though. The banana bread recipe called for a cup of chocolate chips, but I had only half a cup. Obviously not a tragic moment; I used more walnuts.
I am tired of planning to cook, not at all tired of cooking. Not tired of chopping and stirring and watching pots. But Mom, if you are looking down on your daughters, I get why you made the same meals week after week. “Spanish” rice with ground beef, a can of tomatoes and a miniscule pinch of spice. Meatloaf with ground beef, onions, green pepper, breadcrumbs and no spice. Spaghetti with ground beef … You get the idea.